Sarah Browning, Extension Educator
In accordance with the Humane Society of the USA, over 69 million or 54% of American households personal a canine and 85% of these pet house owners view their canines as members of the family or companions. So naturally canine house owners need their landscapes to be a secure place for his or her companions.
A Wholesome Garden Lawns get a foul rap as water-hogs requiring giant quantities of fertilizer and pesticides to maintain them wholesome. However a well-maintained garden is definitely among the finest floor covers round, offering an amazing place to play and relaxation within the shade. And it doesn’t need to be a fertilizer and pesticide sink. Tall fescue ought to be the turfgrass selection for pet house owners, for the next causes.
Throughout a summer time with regular precipitation, tall fescue lawns require little or no (if any) irrigation.
Tall fescue is extra sturdy beneath heavy paw-traffic than Kentucky bluegrass.
Fewer illness issues, which implies much less likelihood you’ll ever want to use a fungicide.
Very seldom troubled by white grubs, which eliminates the necessity for insecticide functions.
Preserve your garden wholesome and thick, which additionally minimizes the necessity for weed management merchandise, by overseeding in fall. In case your garden turns into skinny on account of digging or heavy site visitors the prime time for overseeding tall fescue lawns is now – August fifteenth by September fifteenth. Aerating is an effective way to organize the skinny spots for overseeding.
Extra data on good garden care practices.
Enhancing Turf within the Fall, http://turf.unl.edu/ NebGuides/ImprovingTurfinFallPrograms2010A.pdf Tall Fescue Garden Calendar, http://turf.unl.edu/ NebGuides/tallfescuecalendar.pdf Use Non-Poisonous Crops Sadly, there’s a lengthy listing of crops poisonous to canines, together with many bulbs like bare women, Asiatic lilies and tulips, in addition to bushes, shrubs, weeds and mushrooms. In case your canine is prone to chew crops, don’t neglect tropical crops in containers in your deck or patio as a possible risk. Go to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ (ASPCA) web site for a whole listing, www.aspca.org/toxicplants. The simplest technique to consider your present panorama can be to make a listing of crops and examine them once more the ASPCA listing.
When mushrooms seem in your garden, choose and discard them. Don’t enable your canines entry to your compost pile, the place they could discover poisonous crops and be tempted to chew on them.
Select Non-Poisonous Merchandise Search for fertilizer and pesticide choices that decrease dangers to your four-legged buddies.
For management of pest issues, determine the pest first then select the least poisonous technique of management. For instance, pests like aphids and spider mites will be lowered with a powerful spray of water or an utility of horticultural oil, fairly than a conventional insecticide. Bagworms will be managed with a organic product known as Dipel or Thuricide; a micro organism which kills the larvae of moths however could be very secure for people, pets and wildlife.
Use wooden chips or an identical mulch to reduce weed issues in panorama beds. Mulch utilized in mixture with a preemergence herbicide offers the most effective weed management. However avoid cocoa bean hulls as a mulch. Though they scent nice, they include theobromine which is poisonous to canines. Spend a pair hours in your gardens every week all through the summer time hoeing or pulling any weeds that seem. This eliminates the necessity for put up emergent herbicides. Plus, it’s an effective way to get outdoors along with your canines and luxuriate in a quiet summer time night.
Corn Gluten Meal Think about using corn gluten meal as your preemergent weed management product – it offers two advantages in palms of animal-loving gardeners. First, it may be used as an natural fertilizer in your garden or panorama plantings. Second, it additionally works as a preemergence herbicide to kill germinating weed seeds, but is secure for you, your canine and wildlife. Search for it in merchandise like Preen Natural, Concern and Wow.
Corn gluten meal accommodates about 10% nitrogen by weight. Nick Christians, Iowa State Professor of Horticulture, recommends 20 lbs. of product utilized per 1,000 sq.ft. This provides about 1 lb. of nitrogen per 1,000 sq.ft., which equals about one of many fertilizer functions usually really useful for lawns. Corn gluten meal is a slow-release type of nitrogen, offering vitamins over a 3-4 month interval after utility. This generally is a profit to gardeners, because it eliminates the chance of burning your garden with an overapplication of nitrogen.
The identical utility price can be really useful for garden weed management. However bear in mind, preemergence herbicides, like corn gluten meal, is not going to kill any present weeds. They solely kill newly germinating weed seeds. In order that they have to be utilized earlier than weeds start to germinate.
Your Options are Welcome!
Is there a garden and gardening subject you wish to be taught extra about? Sarah Browning is an Extension Educator with Nebraska Extension and will be contacted by cellphone 402 441-7180, by mail at 444 Cherrycreek Highway, Lincoln, NE 68528: or by e-mail sarah.browning@unl.edu.
